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Trick for a Treat

Wandering through the feed store I approach the treat section and just hear my horses beckoning me to pick some up. Treats are both good and bad. While everyone loves treats, especially my equines, there should be rules to getting these tasty morsels. For instance, I need to be giving my horse a treat, he does not need to take one from me or snatch it out of my hand. Excessive feeding of treats can lead to horses that like to nip and bite. To keep this from happening I find I use treats sparingly and with proper treat feeding etiquette. A flat hand to keep fingers from being chomped is a good start.

I have also recently taught my horse some tricks using treats. Joker can smile and bow, while Slick still struggles with “yes”. Again I try and sparingly teach these tricks because of how grabby they tend to get with much work on these tricks. Some horse personalities can find treats helpful in stressful situations to calm them down and take their mind of something scary; on the other hand, some personalities take treats as an invitation to constantly search you looking for treats. Based on those personalities depends on how much I feed treats.